If you want to improve your listening ability, always having something to listen to is essential. Preferably, it should require effort to NOT listen to Chinese. Only have Chinese audio on your phone, set a radio station on autostart on your computer, etc. This article is about RTI, an excellent source of listening material. It’s good mostly because of its diversity and ease of access, meaning that you will never run out of things to listen to.

Background listening is not a substitute for more active forms of listening practice, but it’s still very useful. Think of it as a way of filling your days with learning opportunities without requiring much extra time.